Customer Reviews

The Company of Adventurers: A Narrative of Seven Years in the Service of the Hudson's Bay Company during 1867-1874

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Isaac Cowie sailed to Canada from the Shetland Islands in 1867 with prospects of joining the Hudson's Bay Company. After arriving at York Factory via Hudson Bay, he was assigned to Fort Qu'Appelle, where he remained until 1874, the last two years as manager. Cowie kept a journal (now lost) during these years from which he wrote a series of articles for a Manitoba newspaper that was published in 1912; a year later the series was issued in book form, a reprint of which is presented here.

The first hundred some-odd pages include a brief history of the HBC and Cowie's voyage to Canada. Once at Fort Qu'Appelle in southern Saskatchewan the book's focus on the life of an HBC official and western frontiersman begins in earnest. Cowie relates fur trading activities, frequent trips to outlying posts (one in the middle of a blizzard), and relations with the Indians, especially the Metis - mixed-bloods who began to see themselves as a separate tribe. Chapters are divided into numerous subsections, often each one relating a separate vignette or impression. Cowie is content with describing routine business, occasionally mentioning an interesting character here and there. No one will accuse him of exaggeration or embellishing incidents to make them more dramatic - that's just not in his character. The most valuable information in the book has to do with the Indians and the growing unrest that was occurring across the plains after 1869, especially with some of the tribes (Sioux, Cree) who had ventured across the border from the US hoping for better treatment, which was wishful thinking only. The book ends in 1874 when Cowie was relieved of his duties and, as he says, "the Mounted Police took effective possession of the plains." Not the most exciting first-hand account of one's experiences in the western regions, it's still a valuable account of life on the Canadian plains and in the employ of the HBC.